Backroad Odyssey : Travel, Van Life & Lost Locations
Traveling America's backroads, history and road trip enthusiasts - Noah and Noodles - unearth fascinating locations overlooked while traveling.
Living out of a van, they research and visit each story location to share the (often shocking) secrets held within.
If you love travel, history and thoughtful storytelling - join us on the road!
Backroad Odyssey : Travel, Van Life & Lost Locations
Van Life Diaries - WW2 Finds American Shores
America sleeps far away from the impending conflicts of World War II.
Despite this VAST distance, an anxiety lingers in the mind of American President - Franklin D. Roosevelt …
My dog Noodles and I scale WWII observation towers along the Delaware coast - and use the story of their construction to illustrate the deep anxieties present in the pre-war American government.
All this is to say:
The slow buildup to American involvement in The Second World War; is more interesting and deliberate than assumed.
Works Cited:
https://www.jstor.org/stable/27555685?read-now=1&seq=15#page_scan_tab_contents
https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.7591/j.ctt1xx5pk.8?searchText=world+war+two&searchUri=%2Faction%2FdoBasicSearch%3FQuery%3Dworld%2Bwar%2Btwo%26so%3Drel&ab_segments=0%2Fbasic_search_gsv2%2Fcontrol&refreqid=fastly-default%3Ae8810c8b534d4a6bfb307d1c26a94446&seq=4
https://www.history.navy.mil/research/library/online-reading-room/title-list-alphabetically/s/study-general-board-usnavy-1929-1933.html#:~:text=warships%20should%20be%20built.,during%20an%20eight%20year%20plan.&text=Congress%20was%20not%20ready%20to,plan%20and%20disbanded%20the%20board.
https://www.history.com/topics/great-depression/civilian-conservation-corps
https://shorebread.com/2013/01/24/the-watch-towers-that-line-the-de-coast-signs-of-world-war-ii/
https://www.jstor.org/stable/27555685
https://www.nps.gov/articles/000/selective-service-and-arsenal-of-democracy.htm
https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/documents/fireside-chat-13
https://www.loc.gov/exhibits/churchill/interactive/_html/wc0112.html
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YoaXGUq-l50
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-iuQcxXAdfw
Noah and Noodles here!
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Your support fuels our passion and inspires us to keep sharing stories and discover overlooked locations.
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Who's in Downey Street. I wonder where this road would lead. So many possibilities. Care to share what you think. Oh, noon Dolls, what do you see? Back Road Odyssey. Back Road Odyssey.
Speaker 1:America sleeps Far away from the impending conflicts of World War II. Despite this vast distance, an anxiety lingers in the mind of American President Franklin Delano Roosevelt. What if America is not prepared if war does come? Defying American public sentiment at the time, fdr uses this question, this anxiety, to gradually bolster the American war machine. My dog Noodles and I scale World War II observation towers along the Delaware coast and use the story of their construction to illustrate the deep anxieties present in the pre-war American government. All this is to say the slow buildup to American involvement in the Second World War is one more interesting and two more deliberate than many people assume.
Speaker 1:Welcome to Van Life Diaries. I'm your host, noah, joined as always by my dog and co-host, noodles the Woodle. If you've been with the show, welcome back. If you're new here, welcome as well. Thanks for tuning in. We'll be answering listener questions at the end.
Speaker 1:I'm drinking a cup of black coffee today. It was one of the most widely available and utilized rations for American troops overseas, so cheers to them. Feel free to join me with your own cup of Joe. Sit back, relax and close your eyes as we travel back to a world set ablaze. It's 1940. An eerie quiet settles over continental Europe Since the assumption of Nazi power in 1933, poland, denmark, the Netherlands, belgium, norway and now France all have fallen under Nazi rule. Britain stands alone. What's more, the non-aggression pact with the Soviet Union is still going strong, still unbroken. Germany, at this time, in this place, cannot be stopped.
Speaker 1:I'm beneath the World War II observation tower here in southern Delaware. It's raining, it's cold, it's foggy, fitting, I guess, for what we're talking about today. Here's what I see. The tower in front of me is maybe 70 feet tall. It's encased in concrete. It has a circular design all the way up to the top. The windows on it are a bit like arrowoslits in the castles throughout Europe, and at the very top there's a platform that overlooks the Atlantic and the nearby Delaware Bay north of here.
Speaker 1:But before we get into what and why and when these towers were built, we need context, specifically an understanding of the broad American mentality at this time, pre-world War II, let's say 1920 to the mid-1930s, when FDR enters office in 1933. Most Americans at this time want to focus on America, to look inward, to disregard or even ignore the events of the world if they don't obviously benefit America itself. So, by extension to this, the last thing most people want at this time is to enter another distant, complicated, expensive war Across the great sea. The American fortress remains neutral, isolated, in a word, unbothered. This at least would appear to be American public sentiment. But its president, fdr, had long been laying, methodically and quietly, the tracks for probable American intervention in the war. I hope the United States will keep out of this war. I believe that it will, and I give you assurance and reassurance that every effort of your government will be directed towards that end. As long as it remains within my power to prevent, there will be no blackout of peace in the United States. An FDR Fireside Chat, september 3rd 1939.
Speaker 1:Following the Great Depression this is 1929 onwards the US doubles down on its longstanding isolationist ideology. World War I plants the seeds of this preference. The flailing post-1929 American economy solidifies public opinion on this preference on isolationism. Attention should be paid to issues at home. The policies then reflect this popular sentiment. The United States rejects the League of Nations, limits immigration, increases tariffs. War is renounced as an instrument of national policy in 1928 under the Kellogg-Brandt Pact and, importantly, military spending drops continuously throughout the 20s and early 30s. Get this During the Hoover administration. No military ships are built. I repeat that zero. No military ships are built. Sometimes, though, problems and trends an ocean away are simply too big to ignore. It is a terrible thing to look over your shoulder when you're trying to lead and find there is no one there FDR.
Speaker 1:Somewhat serendipitously, fdr enters the Oval Office the same year Hitler and the Nazi regime seize power in 1933. What starts then for FDR? As an administration focused largely on domestic issues, reluctantly expands its focus. As Germany becomes more belligerent, as fascist regimes rise, as remilitarization displays a power become more commonplace, the isolationist argument for FDR becomes unsustainable. During the 30s, germany remilitarizes, violating terms set after the Great War, japan commissions new ships that threaten the status quo of the Pacific and the completely ineffective League of Nations opens doors for nation belligerency and aggression.
Speaker 1:All of this throughout the 30s leads to, as I've said, an increasingly worried FDR who sees America's role in the increasingly powder kegged filled world by 1940 for sure, but a bit earlier as well, as we'll see as important, if not essential. He increasingly knows, unlike those that he leads, that the conflicts in Europe, the escalating conflicts in Europe, cannot be ignored entirely. We will not participate in foreign wars. We will not send our army, naval or air forces to fight in foreign lands, except in case of attack FDR. All right, let's, um, let's get in this thing, except in case of attack, fdr. All right, let's get in this thing. When we step through the maybe foot of reinforced concrete, we see a solid spiral staircase going all the way to the top of this observation tower.
Speaker 1:I'm in one of the 11 towers along the coast that were built between 1939 and 1942. Most of that time, you'll notice, is before America officially entered the war and really, notably for me, officially entered the war and really, notably for me, they were built to last only 20 years. And here we are 60 plus years later. But this shows the sense of urgency that we're in, in which they were built right, built during peacetime, meant to last a short time. It's an emergency build. This, more than a lot that I've seen, displays the real anxiety, if not wholly, throughout the American public and the administration that commissioned their construction.
Speaker 1:But here's the question, then, for FDR, who knew the severity of the threats in Europe and beyond and for the public, who had no appetite, especially in the early 30s, for war. How do you sell something to someone that does not want what you're selling? I'll ask again how do you sell something to someone that does not want to buy what you're selling? In the slightest, in FDR's case, throughout the 1930s, you start where they're at right. Then you move towards the idea that you're trying to sell slowly, methodically, quietly, but it's important. What he's selling here isn't war. He's very reluctant to get involved entirely in the European theater. What he's selling is action.
Speaker 1:Fdr knows that to bolster national defense, the Navy, the Army, spending is needed. He knows that to contain Hitler, to keep Japan at bay in the Pacific, intervention is needed. The question for him then becomes how do we get there? How do I lead people somewhere that they don't want to be Again? His response and his answer to this is we do this slowly, methodically and, I'll add, discreetly.
Speaker 1:On March 21st 1933, I addressed a message to the Congress in which I stated I propose to create the Civilian Conservation Corps to be used in civil work, not interfering with normal employment and confining itself to forestry, to prevention of soil erosion, flood control and similar projects. I call your attention to the fact that this type of work is of definite practical value, not only through the prevention of the great present financial loss but also as a means of creating future national wealth. Fdr to Congress, april 5th 1937. The civilian conservation corps, established via executive order on April 5th 1933, puts hundreds of thousands of young men to work on environmental conservation projects. This is a truly massive logistical undertaking. Who, you say, managed this wild number of workers? The answer is the United States Army. And the structure of this quasi-military setup for these workers provided participants with skills and experience valuable in a military setting. It also provided experience to seasoned officers, facilitating this rapid mass mobilization of people. I will say now that FDR publicly states that this is not a military project but an economic one, and that is true in some senses. But the project, indirectly or not, provides valuable experience, a sort of test run for America's readiness for mass mobilization.
Speaker 1:A good Navy is not a provocation to war, it is the surest guarantee of peace. Fdr's distant cousin and former president, theodore Roosevelt, going all the way back to World War I, naval treaties capping the amount of ships a nation could make was commonplace. Fdr, upon assuming office in 1933, having seen firsthand an unprepared Navy he was, interestingly, the assistant secretary of the Navy under Woodrow Wilson knew, like his cousin, that a proper, well-funded Navy is essential, especially with the American signing of the London Naval Treaty which limited American ship manufacturing. Along with other countries, fdr ensured that there was a loophole as he signed it, and that loophole is this so a backdoor clause is included stating that the US can increase its navy if Japan continues to threaten the status quo in the Pacific, which they surely had been doing and would continue to do as they were racing to complete an additional 47 ships by 1937. By 1937.
Speaker 1:To the public who sympathize with isolationism, fdr looks very pro-peace, anti-army expansion, anti-military expenditures, but practically FDR quietly opens the door to rearmment. Fdr, for all intents and purposes, signs an agreement that he knows Japan will make null and void by expanding throughout the Pacific and threatening the said status quo. So to sell readiness to the American people, to sell anti-isolationism, sometimes you have to take it slow, sometimes you have to play the part. The US now was open to build up its navy once again, and this is good timing, because Britain, who by and large controlled the Atlantic, is in trouble. It's threatened by the ever-expanding, seemingly unstoppable Nazi regime in 1940 and surely 1941. Fdr now knows, in rebuilding this name, that the US needs Teddy's so-called quote surest guarantee of peace. So-called quote surest guarantee of peace. As the years progress, as Europe becomes more unpredictable, as Japan continues to rearm, sightings in FDR's mind of threats off the American shores become ever and ever more likely.
Speaker 1:We're at the top of the spiral stairs inside the observation tower in Delaware and I want to ask one question right now, before we go up to the very top what do these towers do? And the answer is these structures aren't inherently offensive or defensive in themselves. All 11 observation towers essentially served as the eyes for the nearby Fort Miles. And this is where it gets fascinating in terms of why these were built. The reason for the multiple towers along the shore is this. So keep in mind, while these towers were being built, it was before the widespread usage of radar, before different technologies that would make it easier to see stuff coming towards you.
Speaker 1:So, to pinpoint a looming U-boat or threat, multiple towers would work together and triangulate the position of the threat. As an observer, you'd spot the object, radio, the location. A nearby tower would do the exact same radio in that location of the threat, and those observations would lead to a calculation that would then turn into coordinates. From there barreled guns, which were positioned along the coast hidden in sand dunes and grass, would finally fire in the direction of what was reported. The range was something like 25 miles from shore. Fascinating, and behind how they actually operated.
Speaker 1:These towers being where they are actually make sense. And to illustrate this, let's go to the very top. The very top. I hope you can hear me all right here. Shots were never fired, but these towers and this fort specifically served as a bit of a last-line defense behind the American Atlantic fleet. And I know what you're thinking, I know what you're asking why Delaware? Right here, looking around, we have the Atlantic Ocean, which flows through the Delaware Bay, which then feeds through Wilmington, delaware, and then to Philadelphia, pennsylvania, a major industrial hub during the war and before the war. It has factories, shipyards, materials. How they worked and why they were located here along the Delaware Bay becomes secondary when you think about this. These structures were built before officially entering the war and were, at the time of construction, only meant to stand for 20 years. This more than any physical structure, more than any object in america that I've seen encapsulates the real sense of of uh urgency, if not for the American people at the time, especially for the peacetime government who ordered each tower's construction. For FDR I'll say this If a threat emerged today and I was the lookout, I'd be screwed. The fog is ridiculous. I can't see anything. So down we go.
Speaker 1:As Hitler grows bolder, as Japan grows bolder, fdr too continues to grow bolder. As the 30s progress. Throughout the 30s, he methodically addresses American unreadiness for war, in opposition again to American popular opinion, at least until 1940 or so. Here are some examples when a $3.3 billion public works program is approved to fight unemployment, fdr allocates $237 million of this to construct 30 new warships, under the pretense of creating desperately needed jobs, which in a sense he was, but it was contributing to his need to be ready for an impending war. After this, he is later quoted as saying in private to his Secretary of the Navy, claus Swinson. Quote Claus, we got away with murder that time. He knew what he was doing.
Speaker 1:Additionally, 50,000 men one third of the army at the time are deployed to American coasts in 1937. The National Guard under the Protected Mobilization Plan of 1937, are to be incorporated into the Army if war should occur. Let's keep going while we're at it. The Second Vincent Travel Act in 1938 aims to beef up the Army by 20%. Plans are put in motion to increase the US Navy by 70% by 1940 as well.
Speaker 1:This increasing aggression underlines the slow but consistent shift in public opinion. Actually, as events in Europe and beyond start to change their mind, and with this public's gradual shift towards wanting American intervention in the war, fdr can now and increasingly, expand his long, privately held beliefs of interventionalism without fear of political backlash, interventionalism without fear of political backlash. Our national determination to keep free of foreign wars and foreign entanglements cannot prevent us from feeling deep concern when ideals and principles that we have cherished are challenged. Fdr, with any conflict, sometimes you have to take a side, and this is kind of what FDR does With the cash and carry policy of 1937, which plants the seeds for America to take a side.
Speaker 1:This quote neutrality policy wasn't really neutral. It was crafted as war in Europe seemed to become more and more inevitable. It allows nations to purchase non-military goods, but here's the catch One, they have to use cash. Two, they can only use their own ships to transport said goods sold by the US. And this move, under the guise of neutrality, implicitly favors countries with one money and two accessible large transportation ships Britain and France, the eventual allied powers. And this, the Cash and Carry Act, is where the covert shift from a strict neutrality to favoring one side over the other, this stance, this taking of a side, becomes more and more plain with the passing of the Lend-Lease Act of 1941, which allows the US to lend or lease military supplies. I'll give you a second to guess who these supplies were sold to. But what this policy, this lend-lease policy, came down to is it enabled the US to enter the war without really entering the war, to assist who they wanted to assist.
Speaker 1:Following the fall of France in 1940, fdr implements the first peacetime draft in American history, requiring all men between the ages of 21 and 45 to register for potential service. And looking back from 1941, from 1940, you'll see a slow transition from an isolationist economy to a fully prepared war economy, before any state of war actually exists. Military budgets grow from 1.2% of GDP in 1938 to 5.1% in 1941. This was intentional, this was deliberate. And all of this, this move from isolationism in the early 30s to readiness into intervention, in my view can be seen along the Delaware coast standing beneath one of the 11 simple towers built. Because of this change in mentality, I'm back at the base of the observation tower.
Speaker 1:In Europe there are castles, there are fortresses that litter the landscape, reminders really that war or conflict could or did occur. And America, from my experience, being from Iowa, from the middle of the country, simply doesn't have that saturation of reminders. But here, standing here in Delaware, world War II impending conflict, feels as real on American soil as it ever has. For me personally, we're a nation now of abstract defenses, the invisible American fortress of the 21st century, whatever drones, missiles. But going to a place like this, standing beneath a physical manifestation of American anxiety for war on its own soil, reflecting on the private steps taken to prepare for that war, that, right now, is what is fascinating about this seemingly abandoned, strange structure on the shores of Delaware. Seeing this makes you think a bit. Storms happen. You best be ready when they come.
Speaker 1:The United States declares war on Japan one day after the bombing of Pearl Harbor, december 7th 1941. A few days later, germany declares war on the United States. The choice then of isolation is officially off the table, but the foresight in preparing for conflict. In actively engaging with the happenings of the world, was and has been invaluable In pushing against popular sentiment. In refusing to alienate those who push for isolationism, fdr possibly prevented an already terrible, terrible conflict from becoming even worse.
Speaker 1:The following is an excerpt from a letter from FDR to British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, dated January 1941, just weeks after the American entrance into World War II. I think this verse applies to you, people, as it does to us. Sail on O ship of state, sail on O union. Strong and great. Humanity, with all its fears, with all the hope of future years, is hanging breathless on thy fate as ever, yours, franklin Delano Roosevelt.
Speaker 1:Walking back to the van, now, away from the tower, it's funny how taking the time to visit and to research a simple, unassuming tower on the coast of Delaware encourages a new outlook, a new perspective. For me, coming here, seeing all this, is a reminder, good or bad, that America is not alone in the world. A failure to acknowledge this, to respect, to cherish allies, to completely disregard genuine threats, might be a big mistake. You'll be standing on a beach without a tower. It's a hard balance, the delicate scale of working on yourself and considering others. Spend too much time on yourself and you'll forget about others. Spend too much time on others and you forget to tend to your own needs. The Delaware Towers, the context of when they were made and why, illustrate this delicate dance between self and other, isolation and interference. Admiring these hastily constructed concrete abnormalities along Delaware's coast open a door to the past, a past that illustrates this balance and the people on either side of that scale. Luckily for us at this time, in this context, one side, one out, or else the world might today look like a very different place.
Speaker 1:With all of that said, let's get to listener questions, shall we? I have some final thoughts at the end, so stay tuned. Just listen to the Mount St Helens eruption episode. Were you scared of an eruption? Well, there, awesome, glad you listened to it. Thank you for the question. I was not One, because once every 100 to 300, 400 years it erupts. It erupted in 1980. Also, generally with these kind of volcanoes, they at least have an idea of when it could erupt. So there would have been some warnings about that, and the eruption in 1980 was incredibly, incredibly unique in how explosive it was, in the way that it erupted. So even when I was doing research at the base of the volcano, I wasn't scared in the slightest. So, yeah, no, maybe I should have been, I don't know, but I just found it really beautiful.
Speaker 1:What bourbons are you drinking? I love, love, love this question. Happy to hear from another bourbon drinker, I'd say my top three bourbons at the moment are Angel's Envy just the generic Angel's Envy, woodford, double Oaked and Horse Soldier yeah, just as a brand. I like their stuff as well, so that would be my top three. I love the question what is the most useful thing in your van? I've got a lot of camping stuff. I use my hammock a lot but, honestly and truly, the best invention, the best thing in my van is newly acquired. It's a banana holder and it's just this kind of rope, rope and there's beads at the end and it holds my bananas Genuinely one of, maybe my favorite thing in my van. So that is the answer to that question. It's Noah here.
Speaker 1:Thank you for listening. Hope you're doing well. Hope you found value in today's episode. Full disclosure. Let's talk.
Speaker 1:I had a difficult time with today's episode. World War II is such a big, big topic. I didn't want to go too deep into it. I didn't want to offer you something that you've heard a thousand times in documentaries and whatnot. And ultimately you know I went with how looking up at these observation towers made me feel and like when I did research into the towers, what was unique about that, you know, and what questions arose from doing research, and ultimately it led me to isolationism versus intervention as things went wild in Europe and how FDR dealt with that the popular sentiment, as we've been saying this whole time, the popular sentiment was isolationism.
Speaker 1:Fdr knew that intervention and activism was necessary and he planted the seeds for that. So that interested me a lot and I hope you learned a lot. I definitely did doing research. So the way that you can help the show continue to grow, continue to put in more and more research, is to rate and review wherever you're listening now Fully appreciate that, thank you very much. And with that said, where to next Be good to each other. Backroad Odyssey. Thank you very much. And with that said, where to next Be good to each other.
